A missionary friend of mine who has been here many years commented that the weather on the last two mornings has been the worst he has seen in 10 years. It is cooler than normal but that is not a challenge. Certainly it is not cold. But it has been unusually rainy. The worst storms were north and east of us. There houses with slate roofs suffered severe damage from hail that piled up over 6 inches deep in places. Near Antwerp a power line tower was blown down and landed on a passing car.
Here it has just been rain. But is has certainly made being on the streets uncomfortable.
Never the less ministry has been going on. I have to remind some of our fellow ministers that ministry is often messy. It has been the last two days. But I think it has been successful.
There are so many stories and the evaluation is yet to come. We help our team get to the train station today so they can go to Schipol Airport near Amsterdam in the Netherlands. They will spend the night at a hotel there and then fly back to America on Sunday. Today is team debriefing and a final meal together so we will not be on the streets as much. It will also be a little more restful. We are not "out the door" at 6:00AM.
It will take a little while to rest, recuperate and reflect. Only then can we make an objective evaluation. But there are stories we can share that will give you a glimpse.
It has been difficult to keep a tally of the sacks of cookies since our team baked some while here and another friend delivered more to us during the week. We feel pretty confident in saying that we delivered 875 sacks of cookies to the tram and bus personnel. They were split between the depot at Zuid (South) and the Korenmarkt (Grain Market). A couple of stories from here will give you a taste of this ministry. On Monday we delieved 200 sacks to Zuid and 150 sacks to the Korenmarkt. This is based upon the number of personnel that base out of these centers. Certainly we had to spend time talking about who we were, why we were there, how to distribute the cookies and that we would come and refill the service boxes we also provided.
On Wednesday we returned with 200 sacks at Zuid and 150 at the Korenmarkt. I (John) was accompanied by a deacon from one of the churches while the rest of the team was serving at the crepe and coffee outreach at a local church. At the Korenmarkt I spoke once again to the woman who works at the ticket booth. I asked her if she had any cookies and if they were good. She said I was giving her problems with her weight. Then she asked if she could ask a dum question. I told her I only had dum answers so ask away. She said she was baptized as a Catholic but had found no meaning in her faith. She wanted to know the difference between Catholics and evangelicals since there was obviously a difference. The deacon gave her an explanation and brought her some material to help explain the differences.
On Friday we returned with more sacks (100 and 75). At Zuid I spent a long time talking with a supervisor who too said he found no comfort in his faith. When I told him about the difference a personal relationship with God can make in one's life he told me he would certainly be interested in exploring that kind of a relationship. Another supervisor wanted my email address so we could stay in touch.
We have also distributed over 150 sacks (actually lost count so we don't know how many more) to the sanitation workers. We were able to do this in person and one-on-one during their lunch break. There are some great relationships forming there. Now they stop and talk to us and the conversations are becoming very open and friendly. They have moved from more than polite and much more in the realm of how they would talk with friends. The guy with the bunny ears goes out of his way to come and speak. But here is another example.
Some of our American team members encountered a crew of four who were eating lunch on the sidewalk. The team offered them cookies but they did not take any. It was the first time we had encountered this crew. Everyone here is suspicious of something for nothing. As I came by they told me the crew did not take any cookies but that no one there spoke English. So I went over and offered them in Flemish and explained why we were giving them out free. They still refused to take any but we had a very long conversation. Some of them speak English but they do not at the level of Americans so they always say the do not. One guy told me he learned English by watching Southpark and the Simpsons on TV. I'm sure that was not on the educational channel.
When I asked if they spoke English several said they did but the conversation continued in Flemish. I was able to talk with them about how God had changed my life and called me here. Here is the good news. This crew regularly cleans in the park near our house so I will have the opportunity to see them again.
We have also been distributing cookies to the security workers, Red Cross volunteers and even some of the local police officers. Lost trak of how many sacks but it is not about the cookies. They are a means we use to connect for conversations. Several of our American team members have had great conversations with the security and police. One security guard took the note out of his pocket and showed it to me. He had already eaten the cookie but said the note of thanks was very meaningful to him.
One more story that is too long for now. Many if not most of you know we have been praying for a person of peace in the local government, police and fire departments. Thanks for doing that. On Thursday our American team encountered a police agent who had an emblem of the state of Florida on the top of his night stick. He has traveled to American with the International Police Association and got the emblem when he was doing a ride along with the Miami-Dade police.
When the team gave this report at the daily debriefing I told them that if they saw him again I would love to talk to him. I spent Friday morning focusing on looking for him and other police officers. Once again our American team encountered the special response unit. The agent was not with them but they asked if they knew the guy. They said yeah we know him and called him on the radio and asked him to come by. In about 10 minutes he and his partner came by and I was able to have a long conversation with them. To summarize he is interested in helping facilitate a visit to Gent by a group of American police agents. We will work on that this fall and he gave me both his home and work contact information.
These are just a taste of what God has been doing here through your prayers. We will try to find a way to tell more of the stories. But for now, don't stop doing what you are doing and we will continue to be salt and light here.
Here it has just been rain. But is has certainly made being on the streets uncomfortable.
Never the less ministry has been going on. I have to remind some of our fellow ministers that ministry is often messy. It has been the last two days. But I think it has been successful.
There are so many stories and the evaluation is yet to come. We help our team get to the train station today so they can go to Schipol Airport near Amsterdam in the Netherlands. They will spend the night at a hotel there and then fly back to America on Sunday. Today is team debriefing and a final meal together so we will not be on the streets as much. It will also be a little more restful. We are not "out the door" at 6:00AM.
It will take a little while to rest, recuperate and reflect. Only then can we make an objective evaluation. But there are stories we can share that will give you a glimpse.
It has been difficult to keep a tally of the sacks of cookies since our team baked some while here and another friend delivered more to us during the week. We feel pretty confident in saying that we delivered 875 sacks of cookies to the tram and bus personnel. They were split between the depot at Zuid (South) and the Korenmarkt (Grain Market). A couple of stories from here will give you a taste of this ministry. On Monday we delieved 200 sacks to Zuid and 150 sacks to the Korenmarkt. This is based upon the number of personnel that base out of these centers. Certainly we had to spend time talking about who we were, why we were there, how to distribute the cookies and that we would come and refill the service boxes we also provided.
On Wednesday we returned with 200 sacks at Zuid and 150 at the Korenmarkt. I (John) was accompanied by a deacon from one of the churches while the rest of the team was serving at the crepe and coffee outreach at a local church. At the Korenmarkt I spoke once again to the woman who works at the ticket booth. I asked her if she had any cookies and if they were good. She said I was giving her problems with her weight. Then she asked if she could ask a dum question. I told her I only had dum answers so ask away. She said she was baptized as a Catholic but had found no meaning in her faith. She wanted to know the difference between Catholics and evangelicals since there was obviously a difference. The deacon gave her an explanation and brought her some material to help explain the differences.
On Friday we returned with more sacks (100 and 75). At Zuid I spent a long time talking with a supervisor who too said he found no comfort in his faith. When I told him about the difference a personal relationship with God can make in one's life he told me he would certainly be interested in exploring that kind of a relationship. Another supervisor wanted my email address so we could stay in touch.
We have also distributed over 150 sacks (actually lost count so we don't know how many more) to the sanitation workers. We were able to do this in person and one-on-one during their lunch break. There are some great relationships forming there. Now they stop and talk to us and the conversations are becoming very open and friendly. They have moved from more than polite and much more in the realm of how they would talk with friends. The guy with the bunny ears goes out of his way to come and speak. But here is another example.
Some of our American team members encountered a crew of four who were eating lunch on the sidewalk. The team offered them cookies but they did not take any. It was the first time we had encountered this crew. Everyone here is suspicious of something for nothing. As I came by they told me the crew did not take any cookies but that no one there spoke English. So I went over and offered them in Flemish and explained why we were giving them out free. They still refused to take any but we had a very long conversation. Some of them speak English but they do not at the level of Americans so they always say the do not. One guy told me he learned English by watching Southpark and the Simpsons on TV. I'm sure that was not on the educational channel.
When I asked if they spoke English several said they did but the conversation continued in Flemish. I was able to talk with them about how God had changed my life and called me here. Here is the good news. This crew regularly cleans in the park near our house so I will have the opportunity to see them again.
We have also been distributing cookies to the security workers, Red Cross volunteers and even some of the local police officers. Lost trak of how many sacks but it is not about the cookies. They are a means we use to connect for conversations. Several of our American team members have had great conversations with the security and police. One security guard took the note out of his pocket and showed it to me. He had already eaten the cookie but said the note of thanks was very meaningful to him.
One more story that is too long for now. Many if not most of you know we have been praying for a person of peace in the local government, police and fire departments. Thanks for doing that. On Thursday our American team encountered a police agent who had an emblem of the state of Florida on the top of his night stick. He has traveled to American with the International Police Association and got the emblem when he was doing a ride along with the Miami-Dade police.
When the team gave this report at the daily debriefing I told them that if they saw him again I would love to talk to him. I spent Friday morning focusing on looking for him and other police officers. Once again our American team encountered the special response unit. The agent was not with them but they asked if they knew the guy. They said yeah we know him and called him on the radio and asked him to come by. In about 10 minutes he and his partner came by and I was able to have a long conversation with them. To summarize he is interested in helping facilitate a visit to Gent by a group of American police agents. We will work on that this fall and he gave me both his home and work contact information.
These are just a taste of what God has been doing here through your prayers. We will try to find a way to tell more of the stories. But for now, don't stop doing what you are doing and we will continue to be salt and light here.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment